Terrorism Case

The Supreme Court has in some cases been willing to temper the excesses of the war on terror, most notably in ruling that inmates at Guantanamo have the right to challenge their confinement in U.S. courts. But last week, it fell down on the job when it refused to consider the case of Maher Arar, the victim of an egregious and shocking violation of rights by the U.S. government In September 2002, Arar, a dual Canadian Syrian citizen, was detained while changing planes at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, based on inaccurate Canadian intelligence linking him to terrorists.

A civilian trial in New York for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his codefendants in the Sept. 11 terrorism case is still a possibility, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. told senators Wednesday. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Holder also said the U.S. would like to capture and question Osama bin Laden, but expects the Al Qaeda leader won't be taken alive.

A Colorado mother whose family said she flew to Ireland last year to join a possibly violent Islamic group was charged Friday with working with a Pennsylvania woman to attend a terrorist training camp in Europe. Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, had been arrested in Ireland last month with six others on suspicion of planning to assassinate Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, whose drawing of the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog outraged many Muslims. Paulin-Ramirez, from Leadville, Colo, was later released by Irish authorities.

Reporting from Washington and New York Richard A. Serrano -- An Afghan immigrant admitted to a federal judge Monday that he was so enraged by U.S. military actions in Afghanistan that he attended an Al Qaeda training camp and planned to commit a suicide bombing in New York -- possibly on the subway -- to protest the war. The plot was thwarted in September after the immigrant, Najibullah Zazi, began to fear that police were trailing him and left...

Responding to a surge of terrorism cases involving American suspects, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says her department is deploying more intelligence analysts nationwide and expanding teams that do outreach with Muslim communities. In an interview this week, Napolitano outlined a strategy against radicalization that features stepped-up intelligence sharing with state and city law enforcement agencies as well as increased efforts to engage American Muslims and prevent backlash against them.

Two Chicago men accused of planning an attack on a Danish newspaper knew beforehand about the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, last year that killed nearly 170 people, federal investigators said Monday. In a conversation that investigators said they secretly recorded on a long car ride, U.S. authorities said the two men chatted about how they had known the terrorism rampage was about to begin in which 10 gunmen ran between hotels and other public places shooting people. During the ride, U.S. officials said, Tahawwur Rana asked David Coleman Headley to pass along congratulations to the planner of the attack, a leader of the militant Pakistani organization Lashkar-e-Taiba.